rhetoric — Bunk History

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'Not a Racist Bone in His Body’: The Origins of the Default Defense Against Racism

The rise of the colorblind ideology that prevents us from addressing racism.

by Justin Gomer, Christopher F. Petrella via Made By History on April 11, 2019

America Descends Into the Politics of Rage

Trump and other peddlers of angry rhetoric may reap short-term gains, but history suggests they will provoke a fearsome backlash.

by Joanne B. Freeman via The Atlantic on October 22, 2018

What Happened to the “Free World”?

Pundits can't seem to define what exactly the term refers to. Turns out it was developed for a very particular historical moment.

by Peter Slezkine via The New Republic on May 22, 2018

Man holding a Veterans for Trump sign at a rally.

Forgotten Men

The long road from FDR to Trump.

by Lawrence B. Glickman via Boston Review on December 12, 2017

The Bitter History of Law and Order in America

It has stifled suffrage, blamed immigrants for chaos, and suppressed civil rights. It's also how Donald Trump views the entire world.

by Andrea Pitzer via Longreads on April 6, 2017

Donald Trump and Newt Gingrich.

They Were Made for Each Other

How Newt Gingrich laid the groundwork for Donald Trump's rise.

by Nicole Hemmer, Brent Cebul via The New Republic on July 11, 2016

Donald Trump: Rizzo Reborn

Wild talk, elite confusion, working-class cheers — Donald Trump’s divisive presidential campaign comes straight from the master’s playbook.

by Jake Blumgart via Philadelphia Magazine on January 31, 2016

Fiorello La Guardia

Lessons from La Guardia

Can Zohran Mamdani reshape New York—and national—politics like Mayor Fiorello La Guardia once did?

by Kim Phillips-Fein via Jewish Currents on July 18, 2025

Alligator

Why Do Fascists Dream Of Alligators?

Long before the new detention facility in Florida, the reptile has featured in the fantasies of Southern racists.

by Asher Elbein via Defector on July 9, 2025

JD Vance

J.D. Vance's Anti-Declaration

Truths self-evident no more.

by John Ganz via Unpopular Front on July 9, 2025

New citizens at a naturalization ceremony.

Our Cherished Values and Ideals

Celebrating immigrants on the nation's birthday.

by Marc Stein via Political Junkie on July 4, 2025

Engraving of Founding Fathers reading the Declaration of Independence while onlookers rally.

Does America Have a Founding Philosophy?

It depends on how you read the Declaration’s “self-evident” truths.

by James R. Stoner, Jr. via Modern Age on July 1, 2025

Why America Got a Warfare State, Not a Welfare State

How FDR invented national security, and why Democrats need to move on from it.

by Samuel Moyn via The New Republic on June 26, 2025

Donald Trump shakes the hand of a border patrol officer while a line of others waits to meet him.

State of Exception

National security governance, then and now.

by David Klion via The Drift on June 24, 2025

Political cartoon depicts Roosevelt steering a ship out of a depression while his detractors are rained on.

Welcoming Their Hatred

As Elon Musk and Donald Trump engaged in a campaign of mutually-assured destruction, social media saw record new levels of schadenfreude.

by Kevin M. Kruse via Campaign Trails on June 6, 2025

Walter Lippmann.

Walter Lippmann, Beyond Stereotypes

On the political theorist and the new media landscape.

by Geoff Shullenberger via Compact on June 4, 2025

Donald Trump speaking at a rally

Witch Hunt Nation: The Endurance of a Metaphor That Burned

A brief look at the usage of "witch hunt" in American politics through the centuries.

by Alexis Coe via Study Marry Kill on May 28, 2025

Joseph McCarthy and Roy Cohn.

Blacklists and Civil Liberties

On the Second Red Scare and the lessons that it can provide for us today.

by Clay Risen, Miguel Petrosky via Arc: Religion, Politics, Et Cetera on May 13, 2025

rattlesnake

How the Rattlesnake Almost Became an Emblem of a Nascent America

On the centuries-long historical evolution of a serpentine symbol.

by Stephen S. Hall via Literary Hub on April 24, 2025

Workmen clearing cobwebs from exterior of the White House, c. 1920.

How to Succeed in Government Without Really Trying

The long history of promising an “efficient” federal government.

by Camille Walsh via HNN on April 23, 2025

City workers get their lunch at the Horn & Hardart automat in New York City, ca 1940.

Choice and Its Discontents

Today no one on either side of the political spectrum would present themselves as an enemy of choice. Sophia Rosenfeld exposes the complex legacy of this idea.

by Sophia Rosenfeld, Daniel Falcone via Jacobin on April 22, 2025

Headshots of Charles Murray, Friedrich Hayek, and Elon Musk in front of a red backgrounds.

Free Markets and Fixed Natures

How neoliberals fell in love with “human nature”—the glue that still unites the divergent factions of the new right.

by Quinn Slobodian via Boston Review on April 9, 2025

Political cartoon of smokers.

Puff, Puff? Pass!: The Anti-Tobacco Writings of Margaret Woods Lawrence

Reformers linked tobacco use to a deterioration of social and familial values, a habit that disrupted the sanctity of the home.

by Brian Fehler via Commonplace on April 8, 2025

A photograph of Frederick Douglass imposed on the cover of The Columbian Orator by Caleb Bingham.

The Columbian Orator Taught Nineteenth-Century Americans How to Speak

For strivers like Lincoln, guides to rhetoric had a special currency in the nineteenth century.

by Danny Heitman via Humanities on April 2, 2025

Exhibitions at the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art in Washington, D.C.

A Truly Patriotic Education Tells Many Stories

Trump’s executive orders can’t define diversity out of history.

by David M. Perry via Foreign Policy on March 31, 2025

Joseph McCarthy with a map.

Joseph McCarthy in Wheeling, West Virginia: Annotated

Senator Joseph McCarthy built his reputation on fear-mongering, smear campaigns, and falsehoods about government employees and their associates.

by Joseph McCarthy, Liz Tracey via JSTOR Daily on March 24, 2025

Two people wrestling. One wearing blue and the other wearing red.

Understanding the Evolving Culture-War Vernacular

The Right is exploiting a manufactured moral panic.

by Isaac Kamola via Academe on March 24, 2025

Social security administration seal.

Social Security Is Not a Ponzi Scheme

Today’s attacks are just the latest form of backlash to the New Deal.

by Lawrence B. Glickman via Boston Review on March 11, 2025

Children peering through the fence around the white community near Johannesburg, South Africa in 1973.

American Conservatism's Home Grown Defenses of Apartheid

A long and ugly history.

by Zeb Larson via Liberal Currents on March 10, 2025

Queer Activists and the Struggle for AIDS Education

Queer resistance to state-sponsored oppression campaigns, from Reagan to Trump.

by Lucy Kelly via History Workshop on March 6, 2025

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